Flightline update

The following e-mail came from Preserve Calavera. Sounds like the land owner is getting closer to development and may get agressive defending the no trespassing.

"The following notice is going out to our list tonight. We had a hike scheduled at Carlsbad Oaks North for Saturday which is now cancelled. The landowner( developer) specifically informed us as an organization. We will cancell all of our activities. At this stage I have no idea what he intends to do about general public access for hiking and biking.

I think it would be great if someone from the biking community could be there Saturday am and say something like:

"Bikers love this area and come from throughout north county to enjoy the trails here. Every day we are losing more of our natural lands to development. We work hard in the biking community to treat the land well. But we need natural lands like this to enjoy our sport. We were very pleased to learn that the city plans to keep permanent trails in this area. We hope that common sense will prevail and soon everyone will again be able to enjoy this special place."

Do you know someone who might be willing to do this- or perhaps if attendance is not possible a good quote that someone could relay would help get that thought out there. Appreciate any of your thoughts on this.

Diane Nygaard
Preserve Calavera

The special annual hike with the San Diego chapter of the California Native Plant Society scheduled for this Saturday, August 21 is hereby cancelled.

Instead, we will be holding a press conference at the same time/place to explain why the hike had to be cancelled.

"I would like to put you and your group on notice that any entry onto our privately owned property is without permission, is clearly trespassing, and we demand that Preserve Calavera or anyone associated with Preserve Calavera cease and desist from trespassing on our property in the future."

We hereby inform all subscribers that this hike and all future hikes that had been planned on this property by our organization are cancelled. We do not support or condone any trespassing onto this private property.

Please attend the press conference to learn what is behind this action- and what you can do to support our efforts to protect this special natural area- and the public's ability to enjoy hiking/biking trails in their back yard.

PS : Our February oak tree planting project got included as a segment on the Oceanside public access station, Inside Oceanside, Channel 19, 7:30 am and 8:30 pm during the month of August. Please tune in and see some of our hardworking volunteers helping to restore Oak Riparian Park."

What : A popular hiking/biking area in northeastern Carlsbad known as Carlsbad Oaks North was suddenly closed to public use a few days before a regular annual hike sponsored by the local conservation organization Preserve Calavera.

Why : This area has long been enjoyed by local residents, and visitors throughout San Diego County for the great hiking/biking trails. The landowner was aware of public use of this area and in fact informed local residents that his policy was “don’t ask, don’t tell” about access. Many of the informal trails in the area are planned to be formally added to the City of Carlsbad’s Master Trail system. In spite of this , Techbilt Construction Corp. , the owner for over twenty years abruptly sent a notice to the hike sponsor to “cease and desist from trespassing on our property.”

Come and learn why this occurred.

And , without trespassing on this private land- see the largest coast live oak tree in the City of Carlsbad, a tree that has been cited for heritage status- and what might really be behind the landowners action.

Excellent photo opportunities.

Note: The hike that had been scheduled for this time has been cancelled- although not everyone may be aware of this. Will Techbuilt be enforcing trespassing restrictions for everyone- or just “certain” people?"

that's a shame...

I fear that no matter what we do, there will be no stoping the land from being closed off - its been due for a long time. There is no way we can stop Techbilt Construction Corp. on closing off this land, if that is their plan, short of giving them all mountain bikes and getting them hooked on the sport.

If we knew what their arguments were, then perhaps we can give them a couple of counterarguments. Otherwise, all we can do is give em the usual arguments.

Follow Up

It seems that the Tchang corp who owns the land had always had a position of "don't ask us if you can use the trails and we won't have to say no." That's changed and they are saying no. When Preserve Calavera posted a hike scheduled for August 21, the Tchang corp said no.

About 20 people total showed up, including about 5 folks who arrived on bikes via the Flightline trails. There was no enforcement of the "no trespassing" statement by Tchang. A reporter and photographer from the NC Times showed up as did a small bit on Sunday.

Immediately after the conference, several of the people who showed up on bikes headed for the trails, a couple of people (local homeowners) headed out for a hike with their dogs and the Preserve Calavera folks took a walk down the empty industrial site pads bordering the connector road as they said that they'd honor the request not to trespass.

One interesting bit that came out was that once Faraday is put through there will be grading to the north of Faraday for industrial pads. Then they'll just sit like all the other pads in the are. What a waste to destroy the land and then leave it scarred. There's going to be very little to ride post development.

I'll be out there a lunch time until it gets torn up. Now if we can only do something about them dang 50s out there tearing up the trails...

I don't really have a problem with the 50s and the jump they made, which are quite nice. The problem I have is with the ruts they (and the full-sized motos) make when they get on the gas out of corners. There's several corners that are now impossible to negotiate at any speed becuase of a 3" wide 2" deep rut that doesn't follow any line a pedal bike would follow. When's it going to rain?

I don't really have a problem with the 50s and the jump they made, which are quite nice. The problem I have is with the ruts they (and the full-sized motos) make when they get on the gas out of corners. There's several corners that are now impossible to negotiate at any speed becuase of a 3" wide 2" deep rut that doesn't follow any line a pedal bike would follow. When's it going to rain?

It was much better at Flightline before they came and left their trademark burnout ruts. Plus they love to litter up the place. They do Suck!